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From today’s Illinois Campaign for Political Reform The Race is On blog:
The Prairie Political Action Committee, a federal PAC associated with Sen. Durbin’s staff, has given $92.5K to the Illinois Democratic County Chairmans Association. And they aren’t even on the ballot this year.
Don’t they have to file with the State Board of Elections if they’re giving more than $3,000 to an Illinois political organization within a 12-month period? The last I checked, the Prairie Political Action Committee hadn’t filed any state paperwork.
You’ll find the relevant statutes here. There’s no mention of an exception for a federal PAC.
 (10 ILCS 5/9‑1.8) (from Ch. 46, par. 9‑1.8)
    Sec. 9‑1.8. “State political committee” means the candidate himself or any individual, trust, partnership, committee, association, corporation, or any other organization or group of persons which‑‑
    (a) accepts contributions or grants or makes expenditures during any 12‑month period in an aggregate amount exceeding $3,000 on behalf of or in opposition to a candidate or candidates for public office who are required by the Illinois Governmental Ethics Act to file statements of economic interests with the Secretary of State,
    (b) accepts contributions or makes expenditures during any 12‑month period in an aggregate amount exceeding $3,000 in support of or in opposition to any question of public policy to be submitted to the electors of an area encompassing more than one county,
    (c) accepts contributions or makes expenditures during any 12‑month period in an aggregate amount exceeding $3,000 and has as its primary purpose the furtherance of governmental, political or social values, is organized on a not‑for‑profit basis, and which publicly endorses or publicly opposes a candidate or candidates for public office who are required by the Illinois Governmental Ethics Act to file statements of economic interest with the Secretary of State, or
    (d) accepts contributions or makes expenditures during any 12‑month period in an aggregate amount exceeding $3,000 for electioneering communications relating to any candidate or candidates described in paragraph (a) or any question of public policy described in paragraph (b). Source: P.A. 93‑847, eff. 7‑30‑04.)
I think they gotta file.
UPDATE: Chris Rhodes of the CrossBlog points out in the comment section that the Prairie Political Action Committee contributed to Rep. Careen Gordon (D-Coal City). The PAC gave Gordon $5,000 on October 6.
There’s almost no doubt that the PAC has to file.
And, how much does the State Board of Elections website suck? Type the word “Prairie” into the Contributor Search Page and you get bupkiss for results. I know the new director inherited that clunky old 1990s junker, but he ought to fix it. They actually have to code every committee, contributor, etc. by hand. Ridiculous. And a waste of money.
UPDATE 2: This could be one of those situations I’ve worried about - when I thought it would be fun to post a little tidbit here and it may turn out to be Fax-worthy. Oops. I’m gonna have to watch that. Don’t want to screw up my real gig.
posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Oct 14, 04 @ 6:08 pm
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Also gave to Careen Gordon. I wrote about it a few days back…
Hmmm…
Dirty, Dirty, Money….
Comment by Chris Rhodes Thursday, Oct 14, 04 @ 6:57 pm
Oops. I’m gonna have to watch that. Don’t want to screw up my real gig.A way avoid this is to not provide updates — although that may not be very satisfying.
Comment by So-Called Austin Mayor Thursday, Oct 14, 04 @ 8:37 pm
Rich, As a subscriber of the fax, I don’t see any problem with your blog. If anything, you might create more interest and increase your subscription list
Comment by Anonymous Monday, Oct 18, 04 @ 11:29 am
I don’t have a definitive answer in this regard, but wouldn’t federal law preempt state law? So, the exception for federal PACs might not be written into law, but because there’s a federal law regulating the disclosure, state law might be preempted.
Someone else might have a better answer. But I am certain that federal candidate PACs contribute to state committees all the time, and the federal committees are not required to file with the State BoE.
Comment by Anonymous Monday, Oct 18, 04 @ 8:12 pm